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DVD Released by: Fox
Released On: N/A
Retail Price: $19.98
Director: N/A
Cast: Dee Bradley Parker, Mel Brooks, Joan Rivers, Daphne Zuniga, Rino Romano, Tino Insana
Year: 2008
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The Movie:
Mel Brooks' Spaceballs has justifiably earned a pretty solid cult following since it hit theaters years ago but did it really need an animated series as a follow up, particularly when half of the original cast members have been replaced by voice actors who don't quite fit in? Maybe if the series had been well written and tried to expand on the film's mythos it could have been marginally interesting but the original film wasn't ever intended to become a franchise the way the films it parodies turned out to be. Do you really want to know what happened to Lone Star, Barf and Princess Vespa after they defeated Lord Helmet and the Spaceballs, or would you rather just let it all rest with the ending of the movie?
The series brings us up to speed on Lone Star's adventures but really just winds up repeating itself a lot. Dark Helmet is back up to his old tricks, but he's done all of this already and it was funnier the first time. The series doesn't really attempt to parody any of the newer Star Wars material that's come out since the movie debuted, and had it gone down this route it might have been worthwhile. Instead we get a series of poorly written gags that rely a lot more on bodily humor and puke jokes than on clever writing or satire. This results in a series that isn't really aimed at children but which is too immature and, well, stupid to really find any other sort of audience.
On top of that, there's the voice acting. It's obvious that Dee Bradley Parker isn't Rick Moranis, that Rino Romano isn't Bill Pullman and that Tino Insana isn't the late, great John Candy. Remember when Jim Henson's son started doing the voice of Kermit the Frog on later era Muppets movies? It didn't quite fit, right? It sounded familiar, but off? Take that effect and multiply it a few times and you get the general idea of how it all comes together here, and it ain't pretty. Literally, it ain't pretty. The animation style employed looks cheap and rushed. It's visually devoid of all but the simplest detail and the characters are exaggerated to the point where they almost seem like parodies of their already parodied selves
It's all well and good that Zuniga, Rivers and Brooks have all reprised their roles from the film in this series, but they're not the characters that drew us to the film in the first place so they can really only help so much. Ultimately, even with a short running time, you'll wind up checking your watch or hitting the display button on your remote to see how much time is left. The complete lack of clever humor and sole reliance on Barf's bodily functions as the source of the series' humor results in a show that really drags.
Interestingly enough, the series was cancelled after thirteen episodes but only four of them have been included on this DVD. There are a couple of moments where you might snicker at the ridiculousness of it all, but by and large this is one massive misfire.
Video/Audio/Extras:
The 1.33.1 fullframe image is decent enough even if the animation style used in the series isn't anything all that remarkable. Colors are nice and bright and the disc is quite well authored in that there aren't any compression artifacts to note. The image is clean, clear and easy enough on the eyes.
The English Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo track includes optional English subtitles but nothing else in that department. There isn't a whole lot of channel separation here but the levels are well balanced the dialogue easy enough to follow and understand.
Maybe not so surprisingly, this disc is basically barebones. You can watch each of the four episodes on its own or through a play all feature and in between there are intros from Lord Helmet and Mel Brooks but these are just as groan inducingly bad as the feature content. Aside from that, there are some menu screens…. and that's it.
The Final Word:
A puzzling release containing four episodes of what is a pretty horrible series, it's pretty hard to recommend Spaceballs: The Totally Warped Animated Adventures to anyone, even seasoned fans of Mel Brooks' original film. Completists will be disappointed that the entire series isn't included here, while casual fans probably won't find it particularly funny.